Door-operating mechanism for railway-cars.



S. OTIS.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1911.

KJQQAQQB Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHoTcnLITHQ. WASHINGTON, D

S. OTIS.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1911.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

2 SHBBTSSHEET Z.

r: MORRIS PETERS CO4. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHING rON, D. c.

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SPENCER OTIS, OF CHICAGO. ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL DUMP OAR COMPANY,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

DOOR-OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

Application filed May 19, 1911. Serial No. 628,272.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SPENCER OTIS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Door- Operating Mechanism for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which forma part of my specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for operating the doors of a dump car; the object of the invention being the provision of anti-friction means whereby the operation of the doors will be greatly facilitated and the initial resistance to the movement of the operating shaft while passing over the portion of the support or track which is substantially parallel with the under surface of the door when the latter is in closed position, practically eliminated, as will more fully be understood from the following detailed description.

In the drawings :--Figure l is a side elevation and partial sectional view of a portion of the car with my improvements secured thereto, the doors being shown in closed position; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the lower body portion of the car and taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a transverse sectional view taken to one side of the door operating mechanism, on the line 83 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a detailed view of my invention in perspective, with a portion thereof being broken away to more clearly illustrate the relation between the respective parts.

In the exemp'liiication of my invention, a dump car provided with downwardly swinging doors a, a, is shown; the doors being suitably pivoted at b in close proximity to the central longitudinal sill c of the car. The transverse members or beams d are shown provided with the inclined slot-ways as at e for the purpose of receiving the door supporting members or operating shafts f, which extend, in the construction illustrated, longitudinally of the car beneath the doors as clearly shown in Fig. l, and form a track therefor. The upper ends of the slot-ways or tracks are preferably made to extend in a direction parallel with the bottoms of the doors when the latter are in closed position, as shown in Fig. 2, thus allowing the shafts f to rest between. parallel surfaces and be free of any rotative tendency. The shafts or members f are shown provided with sprockets g which are adapted to meshwith the racks formed by the short pins or stubs h located at the under sides of the slot-ways, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, thus providing a positive or rolling engagement between the operating shafts or members f and the transverse members or beams of the car. Any suitable means may be employed for inducing the rotation or movement of the members or shafts f; and as the feature just referred to forms no part of this application, a more thorough description thereof is unnecessary.

The under sides of the doors are preferably provided with angle irons or Z-bars 71, extending transversely of the doors as can more clearly be seen in Figs. 2 and 3. These bars 2' are, of course, firmly riveted or otherwise secured to the doors and constitute a bearing surface for the doors against the operating shafts or members during a major portion of the operation. Adjacent to the free ends of the doors, and secured to the Z-bars i, are the blocks or shoes j, which are provided with the inclined or beveled surface, see Figs. 2 and i. These blocks or shoes j come into contact with and rest on the operating members or shafts f when the doors are in closed position, or on the sleeve or hub f, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4c; the inclined or beveled surface being provided for the purpose of permitting the shafts or operating members f to be returned to the normal or closed position after or shoes j have a slot and pin connection with the Z-bars or irons 2', the Z-bars i being provided with the angularly formed slots is, shown in full lines in Fig. 4: and in dotted lines in Fig. 2, through which the retaining bolts or pins Z take, see Figs. 3 and 4, whereby the shoe is adjustably held onto the Z-bar and permitted to move transversely of the doors to a limited extent. Each block or shoe j is provided with one or more anti-friction rollers m, the pintles whereof extend into slots a formed in the sides of the blocks or shoes, see Figs. 2 and 4. The blocks or shoes j are preferably formed U-shape in cross section, see Figs. 3 and 4, so that the bottoms of the blocks rest on the operating shaft 7 or sleeve or hub f of the sprocket 9, see Figs. 3 and 4; while the pressure of the blocks or shoes against the Z-bars is had through the medium of the anti-friction rollers m, which press against the bottom portion of the Z-hars, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4:.

It is apparent from the construction shown and described, that when the members or shafts f are rotated, for example to open the doors, the frictional contact be tween the shoes and the shafts, or the sleeves mounted thereon, will cause the shoes to move in the direction of the operating shafts until the bolts Z have reached the end of the slots is in the Z-bars; the rollers m during this operation will roll against the under side, of the Z-bars, with their pintles moving along the slots n as is clearly apparent from the construction. It will be noted that the shaft has rolling engagement with the track formed by the slot-ways and the rack and pinions, and that also by the provision of the anti-friction devices between the shaft and doors the grinding of the shaft upon the under surface of the doors, which would take place in the absence of these devices, is done away with, thus greatly facilitating the operation of the shafts or door operating mechanism. With the slots 70 formed in the angular manner shown, it is evident that when the shoes or blocks y have been moved with the operating shafts f to a point where the bolts Z have reached the ends of the horizontally extending portions of the slots, (at which time the shafts will be in contact with the inclined or beveled surface of the blocks), the shoes will be permitted to slightly. drop away from the Z-bars by reason of the vertically extending portions of the slots is after the shafts have passed beyond the blocks or shoes. When the bolts Z enter the downwardly extending portions of the slots, the blocks or shoes will be locked or. held at this point until the operating shafts or members f are rotated in a reverse direction to close the doors, when the upward pressure of the shafts on the shoes will lift the shoes upward and compel them to move with the shafts. The position of the shoes, while the doors are open and before the operating shafts are brought into contact with the shoes, is shown in dotted lines at the left of Fig. 2. While the doors are closed, and the shafts are in contact with the flat or horizontally extending portions of the blocks or shoes, it is evident that the weight will be hearing directly downward on the shafts. It is at this initial point that the maximum efiect of the frictional contact is encountered; with my invention, however, the frictional contact between the operating shafts and the doors at this point of the operation is done away with, and the operation greatly facilitated.

I have shown and described the simplest form of my invention, and have illustrated the same applied to a particular type of car, together with one form of operating means, but it is apparent that the invention is equally applicable to other types of cars and forms of operating mechanism, and that the construction shown may be modified in certain 'minor details without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not wish, therefore, to be understood as limiting myself to the precise construction shown and described, but

What I claim and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A dump ear having a floor comprising downwardly swinging doors and displaceable shaft mounted in the frame of the car and resting beneath the doors to support them in closed position, said shaft having rolling contact with the car frame, and antifriction devices mounted intermediate of the doors and the shaft and arranged to have limited movement in the direction of travel of the shaft.

2. A dump car having a floor comprising downwardly swinging doors and a shaft mounted in the frame of the car and resting beneath the doors to support them in closed position, said shaft having rolling engagement with the car frame, shoes mounted on the under side of the doors and having limited anti-frictional engagement therewith, said shaft also engaging the shoes when the doors are closed.

A dump car having a floor comprising downwardly swinging doors and a shaft mounted in the under frame of the car said under frame being provided with inclined tracks, having portions parallel with the doors when the latter are in closed position, on which portions the shaft rests when the doors are in closed position, and anti-frictional devices connected to the under side of the door so as to have limited movement and engaging the shaft when the doors are closed.

4. Operating mechanism for the downwardly swinging doors of a dump car, comprising shafts rotatably mounted beneath the doors, means intermediate of the shafts and the doors whereby anti-friction bearings are provided, and mechanism whereby said means are loosely mounted on the doors and automatically held in an adjustable position when the doors are open.

5. (lperating mechanism for the downwardly swinging doors of a dump car, comprising shafts adapted to rotate and travel transversely beneath the doors, and means loosely mounted adjacent to the free ends of the doors and having slot and pin connection therewith whereby anti friction bearings between the shafts and the free ends of the doors are provided.

6. A dump car having a floor comprising downwardly swinging doors and a supportcanfraine, and bearing members mounted on the free ends of the doors so as to have limited movement thereon, said members being arranged to bear on said shaft and to movetherewith during the initial and final moments of opening and closing, respectively, of the doors, said members being provided with anti-frictional rollers intermediate of said members and the doors.

7. A. dump car having downwardly swinging doors, supporting shafts for the doors, rotatably mounted in the car-frame, bearing members adapted to bear on said shafts and having slot and pin connections With the free ends of the doors so as to have limited movement with said shafts, and means carried by said members whereby anti-friction bearings are provided intermediate of said members and the doors.

8. Door operating mechanism for the downwardly swinging doors of a dump car, comprising operating shafts rotatably mounted in the underframe of the car, angle irons secured to the under surface of the doors, bearing blocks or shoes having slot and pin connections with said angle irons so as to permit the shoes to have limited movement lengthwise of the angle irons and adapted to bear on said shafts, the ends of the shoes presented toward the hinged ends of the doors being beveled or inclined while the other ends thereof are made to extend substantially parallel with the doors and bear on the shafts when the doors are in closed position, and revoluble means mounted in said shoes so as to provide anti-friction bearings between the shoes and the angle II'OIIS.

SPENCER OTIS.

Witnesses:

M. E. STOUTENBURGH, W. J. RYAN.

maples of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

